Tech News and Commentary

Dave and the team discuss Netflix and Disney+, Google’s checking accounts, Facebook and cameras, out of date text messages, hidden likes, and more.

Joe in Gladewater, Texas asked: “Wondering if you knew of any technology out there that a person could use in a classroom setting, so that if a person had like four people answering a question, that a person could “click in” and be the first person – like on Jeopardy. Is there any information or any tools that would allow you do do that with like an iPad or a laptop?”

Joe, you don’t need a laptop or iPad for this, at least not if all you’re trying to do is get someone to hit the buzzer in an in-person classroom setting.

You can find buzzer like the ones you’re describing online for barely any money. For example, if you search for “Answer Buzzers” on Amazon you’ll easily find sets of 4 buzzers for around $10-$12. If you want to get more kids involved, there are sets of 12 on sale for around $65.

If you have a little bit more money to spend you can find wireless buzzer system that connect to a tower that lights up in the color of the first buzzer pressed for around $360, that system is called “Who’s first”.

There are similar but wired versions for 8 kids that cost around $100.

You will not be short on options, you’ll find different designs, some meant to resemble game show buzzers, some not, you’ll find systems that tie together and choose the winner while others will just make a distinct sound and allow you to decide who buzzed first. There are “yes” and “no” buzzers, etc.

There are plenty of reasonably priced options to get you what you’re after and you can easily find them on any large retailer online.

Yehuda in Silver Spring, Maryland listens to the podcast and is calling via the App and called in to help another listener. Yehuda said: “I’m calling in response to a call from the October 11th show about streaming for a church. I highly recommend OBS Studio. It’s a free and open source piece of software that we use for streaming all kinds of Synagogue and community events. We stream to YouTube and it works really well. I also use some cheap USB3 HDMI capture cards. You can even do multiple cameras as long as your hardware can support it. I run this in some relatively old laptops and have never had a problem. I highly recommend it.”

Thank you, Yehuda!

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